Shape gun policy around legitmate concerns

Many have written claiming that they need weapons to defend themselves against the potential tyranny of the government. Because they elect not to explain what this actually entails, allow me.

They supposedly need these weapons for a time when our elected federal officials decide – for reasons these writers also elect not to describe – to declare martial law and instruct the military to strip every U.S. citizen of his guns and freedoms. Our service members, from the Joint Chiefs of Staff down to the privates and midshipmen, would abandon their oaths to defend this nation against all enemies foreign and domestic and execute these orders.

This scenario is a crackpot theory and insulting to the integrity of our men and women in uniform. It’s time we call this “threat” what it truly is: a cruel marketing strategy of the firearms industry intended to cultivate paranoia.

We need to shape our gun-control policy around real, rational concerns such as guns falling into the hands of violent criminals and the mentally disturbed. There is no place in an intelligent debate for such ridiculous notions as the government trying to take over the country.